Germans press Turks on Armenian slaughter

The Associated Press

FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005

BERLIN Germany’s Parliament on Thursday urged Turkey to examine its
role in the killing of an estimated one million ethnic Armenians a
century ago – an issue that could affect Ankara’s hopes of joining
the European Union.

Lawmakers adopted a cross-party resolution asking the German government
to press Turkey to investigate the “organized expulsion and destruction
of the Armenians” and foster reconciliation.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it “regrets and strongly condemns”
the decision. A ministry statement added that Turkey had cautioned
Germany that the text was “biased, contained serious errors and lacked
information,” and had warned that its approval would “deeply wound
the Turkish people.”

Armenia accuses Turkey of genocide in the killings as part of
a campaign from 1915 to 1923 to force Armenians out of eastern
Anatolia. At the time, Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey remains extremely sensitive about the issue. It denies that the
killings were genocide and insists that the death count is inflated
and that Armenians were killed or displaced along with others as the
empire tried to quell civil unrest.

The motion did not mention Turkey’s effort to join the EU, but said
the Armenian issue was an example of how Turkey needs to guarantee
freedom of speech – an area where Ankara has been told it must improve
if it is to join the 25-nation bloc.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany has been one of Turkey’s
strongest supporters in its campaign for membership. But the
conservative opposition – which hopes to win national elections this
autumn – argues that Turkey should be offered a lesser “privileged
partnership.”

The German motion noted that “numerous independent historians,
parliaments and international organizations” describe the killing as
genocide, but stopped short of using that label itself.

The motion proposed the establishment of a commission of Turkish,
Armenian and international historians to examine the killings. It
complained that the Turkish authorities were stifling debate at
home. The Turkish Foreign Ministry statement retorted that the country
“has opened up its archives to all researchers, including Germans and
Armenians, on the premise that historic events can only be assessed
by historians and not by parliaments.”